Dave’s Diary: Wanna Live Longer? Find Some Friends!

What if they threw a party and nobody came… and what if the "they" was you?  Well, it would be a bummer of a party but it might also signal that the clock is winding down on your party opportunities!

The BBC reports research from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah that shows people who are blessed to have a solid network of good friends and caring neighbors boost their chances of survival by 50%!Researchers analyzed nearly 150 international studies. People who had the strongest social networks were nearly twice as likely to be alive at any given age than those who were lonely. The opposite is also true. Having just a few friends is as damaging to survival as smoking 15 cigarettes a day or being an alcoholic. Wow, that’s heavy stuff. I’m still dealing with the new study that shows that lack of exercise is as bad as smoking.  So, if I don’t have any friends to go exercise with, I guess I can just about cash it in right now!

It's not just the elderly who benefit. While the study included people of all ages and backgrounds, the findings remained the same regardless of initial health status.

That’s a lot of studies to study so it is something to take seriously. Let’s talk about it… over coffee sometime?